the world as it is

I found myself in a local coffee shop today among a number of people who didn't look like me. But they didn't necessarily look like one another, either. The habitués of the corner caffinator are an eclectic lot—which means that I fit in because everybody does. I enjoyed a triple Mexican mocha, although I denied myself the whip, and had a conversation with a guy somewhat older than myself about his iPad, and a fellow substantially younger than myself about the terror of finals, and the potential of film communications.

This is the world around us. We (and by "we" I mean those who are followers of Jesus) are blessed to carry the light of creation into the world as it is. Too often, however, we seem to spend our time bemoaning that the world is not "the world as it should be." One attitude looks outward; the other inward. The one sees deep potential and the object of God's love; the other see the darkness and the evil and the eclipse of the light. Most of us (and by "us" I mean those who are human beings) live most of our lives not thinking much about either of those two views. We (followers of Jesus) don't have that luxury. But I submit that we should be more concerned about the world as it is, and do our part to make it ready for the world that is to come. There is not, in that view, much room for "the world as it should be." This kind of embodies the idea of Advent for me.